Layers Can Be Deceiving: A Hopping Model for Small Molecule Diffusion in TATB Crystal

JA Scher and BR Foley and CB Cockreham and MR Murialdo and S Aubry and MP Kroonblawd, PROPELLANTS EXPLOSIVES PYROTECHNICS, 50, 120-134 (2025).

DOI: 10.1002/prep.70004

Sorption of small molecule gases in materials can play a significant role in their long-term stability and compatibility within multi- material assemblies. While many material properties of the insensitive high explosive TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) are well understood, very little is known regarding its permeability to gases. TATB crystal exhibits a graphitic-like layered packing structure that evokes a mental schema in which the layers form nanoscopic channels, but it is unclear whether this structure promotes gas transport. We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to predict transport of small molecules through TATB single crystal. An approach to fit classical force fields is developed to model TATB interactions with H2O, He, Ne, and Ar, which is then combined with steered MD to probe gas transport along selected directions in the crystal. We find that small molecule transport occurs via a hopping mechanism that exhibits distinct jumps between interstitial sites and is substantially faster normal to the layers as compared to through them. This result stems from the finding that intralayer junctions between adjacent TATB molecules are the most stable interstitial sites and that energetic barriers are lower for hopping between adjacent layers. An empirical model for diffusion rate based on the MD data shows that the rate decays exponentially with increasing molecular radius and is negligibly small for all molecules larger than He, including common atmospheric gases. These findings have implications for the interpretation of experiments that measure surface area, material response to extreme conditions, and are expected to help constrain models for material aging.

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